Handhole closure



May 13, 1947- M. G. LEONARD Er AL HANDHOLE CLOSURE Filed Aug. 19, 1944 .1 d WN y. 4mm. Y Y? ,mM/.m m x mal@ R w/Hv V/ N00 T l A e 9/ .A oc/ fa Y WM5 N0 ac.. 5 J M a 41 f 2 .ma F s/ .a m ma m@ 2 www@ n z Patented May 13, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAN DHOLE CLO SURE Merrill G. Leonard, Sharon, Pa., and Ilohn A.

Guidosh, Hubbard, Ohio, assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 19, 1944, Serial No. 550,250

3 Claims. l

Our invention relates to handhole covers and more particularly to handhole covers for torpedoes.

A The Government of the United States has been granted a certain royalty-free license for Governmental purposes with respect to the invention herein described.

The extensive use of torpedoes during World War II has brought out many defects in the standard type torpedo as heretofore used. At times, too often to be comfortable, torpedoes are duds for no other reason than that the handholes in use permit sea water to enter the torpedo.

A broad object of our invention is the provision of simple and efficient handhole covers for torpedoes.

Another broad object of our invention is the provision of a one piece simple handhole cover for devices used in situations where a hermetic seal of the handhole is essential.

Another object of our invention is the provision of a handhole cover constructed on the principle of a beam of constant strength.

The objects recited are merely illustrative. Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a handhole cover for a torpedo; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the broken section line II-II of Fig. l.

In Fig. 1 the torpedo body is designated by l. This torpedo body, at each of the places where a handhole is needed, has a circular hole cut therein. A torpedo, over the greater portion of its length and in the regions where most handholes are needed, is a cylindrical body, that is, has an outer surface generated by a straight line which moves parallel to itself and which intersects, at right angles, the curve defined by a circle. The hole of which we here speak is determined by the intersection of this torpedo surface with a similar somewhat smaller intersecting cylindrical surface having its axis disposed normal to the axis of the torpedo.

At the inner edge of this hole, or opening, we weld, solder, or braze, as shown at 2, the annular member 3. This provides a hermetic seal between the member 3 and the torpedo body. It follows from the foregoing that this annular member, to conform to the inner surface of the torpedo and at the same time to dei-lne a shoulder Il falling in the same plane normal to the axis of the intersecting cylinder varies in thickness from a minimum between points a and b, to a maximum between points c and d (see Fig. 2). This is an important advantage over prior art construction if the securing means for the handhole cover, as in our construction, are placed at these thick portions. The annular member thus exhibits, generally, the construction of a beam of constant strength. This advantage is also realized and probably even to a greater extent, as will appear presently, in the construction of the handhole cover.

It should be remembered that Fig. 2, for purposes of clarity, is a sectional View for the lefthand half of the figure of a vertical plane normal to the axis of the torpedo, Whereas the righthand half is a section of a vertical plane including the axis of the torpedo.

The outer surface of the handhole cover 4 follows the contour of the outer torpedo surface which thus means it will have a minimum thickness between points m and n and a maximum thickness between points :c and y. The handhole cover i5 provided with a plurality of strengthening fins 5, preferably six in number. This handhole oever, together with the ns, thus provides a construction on the principle of a beam of constant strength considered normally to the vertical longitudinal section of the torpedo.

By placing the bolts 6 and 1 at the region of greatest thickness the handhole cover may be rmly held in place.

To facilitate the sealing of the torpedo we provide the handhole cover with a groove 8 into which a rectangular ring I 2 of rubber, or neoprene, or some similar material, is snugly mounted or even vulcanized. The handhole cover thus constitutes but three partsthe cover and two bolts-instead of the five parts-two gaskets, one bolt. a spider, and the cover-needed for the standard handhole cover heretofore used.

The shoulder is provided with a ridge 9 which embeds itself in the gasket I2 with a given pressure enough to seal the connection. The given pressure is determined by the character of the gasket and the height of the ridge 9, because the gasket does not take the pressure of the bolts 6 and l, because, when the handhole cover is in place, the lower machined surface of the handhole cover is in rm and almost sealing engagement with the upper machined surface of the shoulder Il.

The type of cover we provide not only is considerably simpler and easier to put in place and admits of no erroneous positioning on the annular member but permits the use of much larger handholes. The standard prior art handhole, in use for the twenty-one inch torpedoes, has a clearance opening of 5% in diameter, Whereas our construction, of which thousands of uses have been recently successfully made, permits the use of handholes having a' clearance opening of 6%," in diameter.

To facilitate handling the central portion of our handhole cover is provided with a tapped hole Il] for the reception of a threaded handle or eye-bolt.

We claim as our invention:

1. A closure for an opening in the side wall of an elongated container having a curvedA outer contour such that plane sections taken normal to the axis of the container would produce substantially circular sections, said opening being so disposed in the side wall that'l the edge thereof falls substantially in the surface of a geometric right cylinder having its axis disposed normal to the -a-xisof the container, in combination, an annularfmember disposed in the'container and having aniouter peripheral contour designed to be contiguous to the inner surface of the side wall at the edge of the opening and being hermetically sealedat the peripheral contour to the side wall of the container, said annular member being provided 4,with an outwardly directed annular shoulder the surfaceV of which falls Within the container'l and in a plane normal to said geometric right cylinder, an annular projection in the surface of the shoulder, a cover for the opening havingan outer surface following the curved outer contour of the container and having an inner plane surfaceto fit the plane surface of the shoulder, said inner surface of the cover being provided with an annular groove, a gasket of flexible material inv said groove, said groove and gasket being wider than said projection and having an annular configuration to t over the projection, and a; pair of counter-sunk diametrically opposed bolts disposed at the region ofthe greatest thickness of the cover and annular member to rigidly connect the cover to the annular member and to thus cause saidprojection to imbed itself in the gasket to provide a hermetic seal between the cover and annular member.

2. A closure for the generally circular handhole in the cylindrical side wall of a torpedo which handhole is at the top ofthe torpedo when the torpedo is in its normal operating position, in combination, an annular member in the torpedo and having an outer peripheral contour to t against the inner surfaceof the side wall of the torpedo at the edgeof the hole andbeing hermetically connected to the side wall, said annular member having an outwardly facing countersunk plane surface for receiving a handhole cover, a centrally hollowed out handhole cover having an inwardly facing plane surface at its periphery to it said counter-sunk plane surface and an outer contourconforming to the outer contour of the side wall of the torpedo when the cover is in proper position, a plurality of radially disposed strengthening ribs on the inner hollowed out surface of the handhole cover, said handhole cover having an annular groove in its plane surface thereof, an annular gasket rigidly mounted in said groove, an annular ridge on the said counter-sunk plane surface of the annular member disposed to be embedded in the gasket when the handhole cover is in place, and a pair of countersunk bolts disposed at the regions of the greatest thickness of the cover and annular member for rigidly connecting the handhole cover to the an nular member.

3. A closure for an opening in the side Wall at the top of a container having the shape of a right cylinder and which in normal use is disposed with its axis in a horizontal position, said opening 1ceing'so disposed vin the side Wall and having such shape that the edge thereof falls substantially in the surface of a geometric right cylinder having its axis disposed normal to the axis of the container and having a lesser diameter than the diameter of the container, in combination, an annular member disposed in the container and having an outer peripheral contour to t against the inner surface of the side Wall at the edge of the opening and being hermetically sealed to the inner surface of the side Wall, said annular member having a horizontal shoulder at its inner periphery provided with an upwardly directed ridge, a cover having an annularbottom surface, an annular groove in the bottom surface, a resilient gasket snugly fit into the groove so disposed to coact with said ridge when the cover is in place on the horizontal shoulder, said cover being so shaped that when it is in correct position on the shoulder it presents an outer contour fallingin the outery cylindrical contour of the container, and a pair of countersunk bolts in the vertical plane of the cover for rigidly connecting the cover and annular member so that the gasket forms a hermetic sealv between the cover and annular member.

MERRILL G. LEONARD. JOHN A. GUIDOSH.

REFERENCES CTED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,296,334 Shonnard Mar. 4, 1919 1,144,152 Miller June 22, 1915 1,430,202 Valerius et al Sept. 26, 1922 624,715 Wenz May 9, 1899 1,388,918 BrandtV Aug. 30, 1921 999,613 Weldon Aug. 1, 1911 390,595 Heiser Oct. 2, 1888 2,107,762 Olds Feb. 8, 1938 1,385,255 Lunt et al July 19, 1921 2,376,593 Hellen May 22, 1945 

